ANDERSON AND STANTON ON SONG AS MERRION TOPPLE BALBRIGGAN!

BALBRIGGAN VS MERRION

Excellent performances from skipper Tom Stanton and premier batsman John Anderson led the way this afternoon as Merrion overturned Balbriggan for the first time this season, moving themselves into 2^nd in the table and cutting down the gap to Balbriggan.

Stanton won the toss and the visiting side elected to bowl first and after a decent start from Balbriggan, wickets in back to back overs for Muhammad Sinan and Hugh Kennedy saw off Ghanim Dara and Connor Fletcher when the score had reached 28. This brought Chris de Freitas and Farooq Nasr together, the pair added 57 for the third wicket before Stanton dismissed de Freitas and Greg Ford in back to back deliveries to peg Balbriggan back.

A brace of wickets for Amish Sidhu saw the back of Nathan Rooney and Ryan Hadley, whilst Stanton continued with his good spell in dismissing Nasr and Andrew Darroch to restrict the home side to 123/8, Kashif Ali and Duane Harper added 20 before a pair of wickets in back to back deliveries for left-arm spinner Danny Forkin bowled Balbriggan out for 143, giving the visitors a very enticing target to chase in the second innings, Tom Stanton finishing the pick of the bowlers with 4/20.

The Merrion chase started slowly, with the score progressing to just 15 before Ryan Hadley dismissed Jack Carty for 11. Mike Lewis and Franco Marais added a further 16 runs before the former was dismissed by Andrew Darroch for 13.

Partnerships began to build with slightly greater regularity, Swapnil Modgil and Marais added 30 for the third wicket before Kashif Ali accounted for Modgil for 12, bringing John Anderson to the crease and leading to the biggest partnership of the innings as Marais and Anderson set about building the innings.

In just over 17 overs, the pair added 70 to the score before Marais fell to Ryan Hadley’s comeback spell in the 35^th over with the winning line in sight. A 13 run partnership between Sean Stanton and Anderson saw the latter past his half century and the visiting side to a 6 wicket victory with 11 and a half overs remaining, Anderson finishing 51*.

PHOENIX VS PEMBROKE

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Phoenix were convincing winners of a low scoring encounter in the park, 6 wickets for Poonish Mehta saw Phoenix all out for 118, however Tyrone Kane went one better, taking 7/35 as Pembroke collapsed to 55 all out, securing a 65 run win for Phoenix.

THE HILLS VS YMCA

In The Vineyard, Mark Donegan made an unbeaten 73 as The Hills ran up a total of 223/6 from their 50 overs. There were two wickets apiece for Dylan Blignaut, Tomas Rooney-Murphy, Jonathan Tall and Matthew Weldon saw YMCA all out for 124 inside 35 overs, resulting in a 99 run victory for the home side.

RUSH VS CORK COUNTY

The Championship saw a full round of fixtures where the performance of the day came from Cork County, who posted 264 all out thanks to 58 from Cormac Hassett, 57 from Ross Durity and 45 from Francois Mostert, four wickets for each of Daniel Coffey and Aaron McGuire the highlights for Rush. In response, Rush could muster just 39 as Sukphal Singh took 5/11 and Ehsan O’Sullivan 3/14 in seeing the away side win by 225 runs.

RAILWAY UNION VS CORK HARLEQUINS

In Park Avenue, Brandon Kruger took 4/21 and Matt Brewster 3/18 as Cork Harlequins reduced Railway Union to 124 all out inside 37 overs. However in response, Harlequins could muster just 82, as a pair of five wicket hauls for Liam McCarthy and Alan Joseph Mathew guided the home side to 42 run victory.

NORTH KILDARE VS NORTH COUNTY

North Kildare batted first in Kilcock however they could only manage 100 all out against North County as Ghulam Muhammad took 5/18, alongside 3/23 from left-arm spinning overseas man Malcolm Nofal. Niall McGovern (20) and Jamie Grassi put on 71 for the first wicket, before three wickets split between Manjeet Singh and Kaustabh Pawar saw a small wobble, with Grassi eventually guiding his side to a 7 wicket victory inside 17 overs, finishing 58* in the chase.

TERENURE VS LEINSTER Finally in Terenure, Leinster batted first and thanks to a Joey Carroll half-century, made their way to 171/4. However an excellent spell of bowling from Mark Thomas and Sadiq Safi saw them fall to 185 all out inside 36 overs. In response, Terenure started well, Henry Dall making 50, however 7/41 from Bilal Azhar saw the home side fall to 148 all out inside 35 overs and secure a 37 run win for the away side.